Canada needs 1.4 million immigrants to fill vacant jobs

“Look, this is simple: we need more people.”

With these words the Immigration Minister of CanadaSean Fraser, unveiled plans to welcome about 1.4 million migrants over the next three years.

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According to Fraser’s announcement, Canada expects to welcome 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and up to 500,000 by 2025.

This means an increase of about 13% of the initial goals that the Canadian government had.

For them, the measure’s main objective is to reduce the labor gap that now exists in the country, where tens of thousands of available jobs have not been filled.

And it goes against what other governments such as the British, who has been strongly criticized for his immigration policy, or the United States, where the last actions have tended to harden immigration control measures.

“The immigration plan will help companies find the workers they needFraser said.

One of the main reasons behind the new opening is that the job vacancies that were created during the covid-19 pandemic were not filled again.

The numbers in this sense are paradoxical in Canada: while they register a total of 950,000 vacancies in different sectors, there are also a million unemployed people.

The gap is created because most of them do not have the tools or skills to cover those vacancies or, as in some regions, they do not live in the areas where workers are needed at the time.

Sean Fraser is Canada’s Immigration Minister. (GETTY IMAGES).

To this phenomenon, in accordance with the provisions of the Government, it is also added that more and more Canadian citizens withdraw from their work, which has created a void that it has not been possible to fill.

In addition, this program also seeks to increase the resettlement of refugees who are currently dependent on government assistance.

But who are the people the Canadian government is looking for?

Health sector, software and restaurants

It is not the first time that Canada has opened its borders to attract more immigrants, but it is the first time that it has been done on this scale.

“Canadians understand the need to increase our population if we are going to meet the needs of the workforce, if we are going to balance a worrying demographic trend and we will continue to gather families,” Fraser said during the presentation of the new plan.

Although the government noted that the lack of skilled labor impacts all sectors of the Canadian economy, heThe figures from government analyzes point out that one of the most affected is the provision of medical services.

And this sector is followed by construction, manufacturing, hotels and tourism, which includes restaurants.

According to Fraser, Canada has about three workers for each retired citizen, so the objectives of the so -called “economic migration” are priority.

“We need more workers in all sectors in all regions of the country, regardless of whether they are first -line medical care workers, truck drivers, housing builders or software engineers,” he said.

The main goal of the plan is to increase the workforce as many Canadians have retired in recent years. (GETTY IMAGES).

Such is the need, that although the Canadian Conservative Party, which is in the opposition to Justin Trudeau’s government, has criticized the decision announced this week, he had accepted the need for an opening of immigration.

However, some experts point out that it will not be an easy process due to the financial crisis that not only Canada but the main economies in the world are experiencing, marked by rising interest rates and high inflation.

Thus, the economist of the University of Waterloo Mikal Skterud, points out that, although there are many reasons to increase the number of immigrants in Canada, the current situation is not very favorable for the opening that the North American country wants to achieve.

“The increase in interest rates may make the integration of these people difficult to the country once they arrive,” Skterud told the Reuters news agency.

“We are at a real kind of tipping point. There is an enormous amount of uncertainty,” she added.

Source: Elcomercio